James Cameron believes games will “help propel,” glasses-free 3D in the market

James Cameron is on about 3D again, this time, he is of the opinion that videogames will be the “drivers,” of the tech once cycle creation catches up before it trickles up to consumer televisions featuring the tech.

Speaking at the NAB 2011 conference in Las Vegas where he announced his new 3D technology company, Cameron Pace Group, the Avatar director believes the tech will become more mainstream, thanks to glasses-free devices.

“Videogames are going to help propel the autostereoscopic play because that’s going to be the entry level for most people,” he said via Yahoo news. “These single-viewing devices that are engaging the person to play these videogames will drive a lot of investment in autostereoscopic displays for that very reason. That technology will trickle up to the larger 3D displays that will be used for home viewing and gaming.

“Videogames are going to be the drivers, but they haven’t done so today because the cycle creation has lagged behind. The consumer electronics companies introduced these screens last year, so we’re a year into this and it takes 18 months to two years to author a high quality video game. So you’re going to see a stampede of videogames and then that, in turn, is just going to catalyze more broad scale adoption in the home of these big 3D screens.”

This, according to Cameron, will be the key to the public accepting 3D into their homes more readily, as wonky glasses are no longer necessarily required.

“One of the big barriers to 3D right now is that you have to wear glasses in the home,” said Cameron. “Home viewing is very different than movie theater viewing. I don’t think we’ll ever get rid of the glasses in movie theaters. Not in my lifetime, anyway, but we’re going to get rid of them at home because it’s a different viewing model type. You’re distracted at home. You’re doing other things. You’re pausing a game or a movie and going to get pizza or whatever it is. It’s not the same very-dedicated sort of consciousness that you have in a movie theater, so getting rid of the glasses will be a big deal.”

Cameron is currently writing the scripts for Avatar 2 and 3 which will again be filmed in 3D. He is also expecting to create games to go along with the films, just like with the last outing, which was published by Ubisoft.

The original Avatar game sold almost 3 million copies across all platforms worldwide, and Cameron is very interested in creating an MMO out of the Avatar universe.

“I’d love to do an MMORPG experience inside the Avatar universe and I would like to see it authored in 3D,” he said. “I’d like to see people doing gameplay in 3D, so that’s something that we’re looking to do. But we’re not active on that yet.”